TFI International expands refrigerated services with acquisition of D&D Sexton

Earlier this week, TFI International Inc., a Canadian holding company that is parent to truckload giant CFI and other transport entities, said it has acquired Carthage, Missouri-based D&D Sexton, a provider of refrigerated transportation services.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Family-owned D&D has a track record going back more than 40 years, and its core areas of expertise include refrigerated transportation, serving a long-standing customer base with both long-haul over-the-road services and also local and shuttle operations. It has more than 150 company drivers and owner operators, and nearly 40 non-driving employees, according to TFI. The company added that D&D generates annualized revenues of more than $25 million.

D&D has more than 120 tractors and nearly 400 refrigerated and dry van trailers. The acquired business will operate within TFI International’s CFI group of companies, TFI added.

“D&D is an excellent strategic fit with the organization, culture, and business model of our CFI operating company, adding strategic capacity and valuable, longstanding customer relationships to its temperature-controlled business,” stated Alain Bédard, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of TFI International, in a statement. “In addition to an overlapping refrigerated freight network, D&D brings significant experience in local and shuttle operations. We see multiple near-term opportunities around costs, routes and pricing to enhance profitability, as well as longer-term opportunities to optimize equipment and the capacity network design, taking D&D to the next level of excellence. We extend our warmest welcome to the entire D&D team and look forward to their many upcoming contributions to TFI International’s continued growth.”

TFI Senior Vice President Michael Hinz told LM that this acquisition is the latest move in regards to CFI’s expansion into Temp-Control services, which started in 2020 with the acquisition of MCT.

“The addition of D&D Sexton deepens our commitment to the Temp-Control industry and improves our ability to serve customers,” said Hinz. “More importantly, D&D Sexton is the right fit, matching CFI with their passion for picking up and delivering on time, safely as promised. Customers want more capacity and more of CFI’s service. Because many customers need both dry van and Temp-Control. This deal establishes CFI as a more complete over-the-road solution.”

And Hinz added that D&D brings additional Temp-Control knowledge, capacity and people who truly care about what they do and how they do it.

“From a culture standpoint, bringing D&D under the CFI umbrella combines like-minded transportation professionals with a focus on service,” he said. “By combining former MCT and D&D Sexton as CFI’s Temp-Control service, the freight lanes of the two companies complement each other very nicely. The home locations of the drivers and the corresponding OTR driver support network set a foundation for high productivity and dependable service. In addition, CFI’s established Truckload (dry van) and Dedicated fleets continue to strengthen the network.”

As of last month, Hinz said that CFI now offers five distinct transportation services: Truckload, Dedicated, Temp-Control, Mexico and Logistics.